A dad tragically died the day before he was due to go on a family holiday to celebrate his wife’s 40th birthday, an inquest heard.

Geoffrey Webb, 42, from Wincle, had returned from a night out with his wife when he slipped on the stairs and hit his head, a hearing at Macclesfield Town Hall was told.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement read out at the inquest, on April 5, Mr Webb’s wife Susan Webb said they had been celebrating his brother’s birthday and were due to go to Tenerife the next day for her 40th birthday.

She said Mr Webb, who was a delivery driver, had drunk around seven pints, which was less than he usually drank.

She said: “He had around seven pints. I went upstairs to get ready for bed. I got into bed and started to fall asleep when I heard a loud bang.

“I rushed to the top of the stairs and saw Geoff lying face down at the bottom. I ran towards him and touched him but he didn’t respond at all.”

Susan then attempted to administer CPR on her husband and called an ambulance.

She said: “He was such a young, healthy man and my son and I have lost a much-loved father and friend.”

In a report read out at the hearing, paramedic Martin Booth said Mr Webb was dead when he arrived.

PC Nicola Mercer, who attended the emergency call out, said: “We had a call just before 4am on Sunday, November 22. We were met outside by paramedic Martin Booth and he told us he had died. He was out socialising and drinking as was the norm. He was quite a big chap and used to drinking. There was nothing on the stairs to trip him but the stairs were possibly dangerously narrow and incredibly steep. He slipped going upstairs due to the consumption of alcohol.

“I imagine it would have been quite easy to miss a step.”

Dr Janet Elizabeth Napier, senior coroner for Cheshire, concluded that Mr Webb died on November 22, 2015, due to an acute subdural haematoma and a fracture of the base of the skull.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, she said: “It is a terrible tragedy. It was a lovely evening and he was just about to go on holiday. He was no age at all.”